Healthcare Industry News: autologous cell
News Release - April 30, 2007
World Renowned Stem Cell Researcher Dr. Rudolf Jaenisch Joins PrimeGen Biotech Scientific Advisory Board
Whitehead Institute Founding Member and MIT Professor of Biology to Provide Expert Insight to Pioneering California Regenerative Medicine CompanyIRVINE, Calif.--(HSMN NewsFeed)--PrimeGen Biotech LLC (http://www.primegenbiotech.com) announced today the appointment of distinguished biomedical researcher and leader in epigenetic and transgenic science, Dr. Rudolf Jaenisch, to its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Jaenisch is a founding member of the prestigious Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and is a professor of biology for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In March, Dr. Jaenisch was honored as one of two recipients of the 2007 Vilcek Foundation Prize for his outstanding achievements in biomedical science. The prizes are awarded annually to foreign-born individuals for extraordinary contributions to society in the United States. Dr. Jaenisch is from Germany.
In December 2006, Dr. Jaenisch was awarded the Max Delbruck Medal for his research on epigenetic mechanisms of gene regulation. Epigenetics refers to the ways genes are expressed or "read" without alteration of the DNA sequence and is a particularly important mechanism of developmental biology.
Dr. Jaenisch is also a pioneer in the field of transgenics. His first breakthrough in the 1970s yielded the first transgenic mouse in history. Since that time, he has continued to develop mice that are capable of exhibiting variants of a human disease and can be used for studying the characteristics of a disease as well as possible treatments.
He has published numerous papers demonstrating the importance of epigenetics in understanding cancer and certain neurological conditions. Epigenetics is also a critical tool for studying the dynamics of stem cell development, control and optimization. "Utilizing knowledge of epigenetics is essential for safely advancing stem cell research from the lab to the clinic," said Francisco Silva, PrimeGen Biotech Executive Vice President of Research and Development.
"I am very interested in PrimeGen's groundbreaking germ line stem cell research," said Dr. Jaenisch. "Germ line stem cells represent an extremely interesting cell type because of their epigenetic lability. Indeed, it may be possible to derive pluripotent cells from germ line stem cells by manipulating their epigenetic makeup. This research is significant and will contribute greatly to what is known about the developmental biology of the germ line and what its potential is for autologous cell-based regenerative medicine."
"We're excited to welcome such a prominent and accomplished scientist to our Scientific Advisory Board, one who has significant understanding of our field and can help us with the development of a next generation stem cell for therapeutic use," said Thomas C.K. Yuen, Chairman and CEO, PrimeGen Biotech. "His contributions to the field of developmental and stem cell biology have been considerable and will be extremely valuable as we continue to advance our germ cell platform as well as our other technologies - always with the goal in mind of progressing translational research from the lab to clinical applications as quickly and as responsibly as possible."
Dr. Jaenisch has received numerous awards, including the Boehringer Mannheim Molecular Bioanalytics Prize in 1996, the first Peter Gruber Foundation Award in Genetics in 2001, and the Robert Koch Prize in 2002. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a member of the Institute of Medicine, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Jaenisch also joins Dr. Robert Morin, who has been a member PrimeGen's SAB since inception. Dr. Morin is Chair of the Department of Pathology and the Head of Chemical Hematology at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, and Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the UCLA School of Medicine.
About PrimeGen Biotech LLC
PrimeGen Biotech LLC is a privately held biotechnology company dedicated to providing the most potent regenerative cells for use in diverse therapeutic applications. Its wholly owned subsidiary, PrimeCell(TM) Therapeutics LLC, has developed the first adult stem cell capable of transforming into any cell type found in the body - known as PrimeCell(TM). PrimeGen's chairman and CEO Thomas C.K. Yuen is renowned for turning technological promise into successful, leading-edge companies - first as co-founder, co-chairman and COO of AST Research, Inc., then as chairman, CEO and president of SRS Labs.
Source: PrimeGen Biotec
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